Tuesday, June 30, 2015

A Man From Nantucket

There once was a man from Nantucket Who kept all his cash in a bucket. But his daughter, named Nan, Ran away with a man And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

But he followed the pair to Pawtucket, The man and the girl with the bucket; And he said to the man, He was welcome to Nan, But as for the bucket, Pawtucket.

Then the pair followed Pa to Manhasset, Where he still held the cash as an asset, But Nan and the man Stole the money and ran, And as for the bucket, Manhasset.

The Antiques Roadshow was fun, even though it turns out nothing we took is really valuable. The antique doll is worth $180 – 200, and – very disappointing – the chair, while Hepplewhite in style, was made in the 1930s and is worth perhaps $100. The water cooler, found in Mississippi, is actually a Red Wing product (from Minnesota) and is worth over $300, and created a stir of interest. But because it isn’t ours, but was brought for a friend, it didn’t get picked to be televised.

Worst of all, on our way home I somehow mislaid my wallet. I called around, but no one had it, and I was depressed to think of all the places I’d have to call to cancel cards and my driver’s license. But Hurrah! Our car insurance agent called. Someone saw the wallet beside the entrance ramp to I-80/I-35 and picked it up. She called the 800 number of the insurance company, and the agent called me, and I called her. She is putting it in the mail to me. So life is good, think nice thoughts about a woman named Terry.

I also got a phone call from Once Upon A Crime, a Minneapolis Mystery Bookstore (and one of the best). A lodge up on the north shore of Lake Superior called Naniboujou has ordered twenty-five more copies of Unraveled Sleeve, the mystery I set at the lodge, and could I drop by and sign them? Certainly, it was a very happy break from writing!

I’m still writing Knit Your Own Murder, but it’s a complicated plot, and I’m afraid the novel I submit mid-July is going to be sketchy in spots. It’s a good story, but there’s an awful lot of detail and a couple of sub-plots to fold into it.

Great news about your wallet! It does make you wonder how it ended up on the side of an off ramp.

I found a wallet in our front yard once. It turned out to belong to someone who lived a couple of blocks away.I felt a little funny about just taking it back to them. Would they think I was involved with taking it? I thought about giving it to the cops, but I figured it would take them forever to contact the owners. So, I went over and gave them the wallet directly. It turned out that someone had broken in and taken it and somehow lobbed it into our yard. They were certainly relieved to get it back.